A Spoonful of Sugar
by WindeSprite
Summary: Craving sweet? Look no more. A collection of romantic short stories featuring the Inu-Yasha cast.
1. Worth

_Worth_

-

She would have smelled it a mile away. Right there inside the chorus room— Sango lunged through the door, her accusatory gaze sliding over the people wandering around the room and casually chatting until it fell on one particular boy.

Blue eyes so dark they looked purple. Dark brown hair in a messy ponytail at the nape of his neck. A bar of dark chocolate in his hand.

Her mouth was practically watering.

He caught her doe-in-the-headlights stare and grinned seductively. "Like what you see?"

…Oh. Well, Miroku looked nice, too…

"You have dark chocolate," she said, walking over to him.

"Yes, I do."

"You know there's no eating in the chorus room."

"And yet here you are practically salivating." He dangled a piece before her eyes. "What would you do for it?"

"Anything."

He raised a brow. "_Anything_, hmmm?"

Maybe she'd spoken too quickly. "I won't sleep with you."

"Grope?"

"I won't grope you, either."

"No, will you idly stand by while I grope _you_?"

Her cheeks flamed. The nerve of him! "Forget it," she said, spinning on her heel. "I can live without it—"

She felt hands grab her shoulders and spin her around. "I was kidding, Sango," he said, his eyes laughing at her. "But I'll give you a piece for a kiss."

Sango heaved a sigh and turned away. "You're never serious."

"On the contrary…" He leaped in front of her, blocking her path to the door. "I was quite serious." He took a bite of dark chocolate, chewing slowly and licking his lips. "Mmm…"

She dropped her gaze. "Stop that."

"The rich, chocolately flavor sliding over your tongue, your taste buds awakened—"

SHestood on tiptoe and pressed a hasty kiss to his cheek.

Miroku looked slightly surprised.

She held out her hand. "Pay up."

"Fine."

He broke off a piece of chocolate, and set it in her palm, the brush of his fingers making her skin tingle.

She gulped. "Thank—" She cut off abruptly when he leaned towards her, his lips mere inches from hers.

Sango jumped backwards, her breaths coming in short pants. "What are you doing?!"

"Claiming my payment."

"But I kissed you!"

A roguish grin spread across his face. "I never specified what _kind_ of kiss it had to be, now, did I?"

"Cheater," she accused.

"Anything for dark chocolate."

In a split-second decision, she snatched the rest of the chocolate out of his hand and retreated a few feet back. "You wanna play dirty? Okay: me or the chocolate?" She smiled smugly.

Sango wasn't prepared for the caressing, lingering kiss that he gave her. Her lips parted as he pulled away; her heart was racing.

He smiled and stroked her cheek. "You taste better than dark chocolate."


	2. Substitute

_Substitute_

-

"Inuyasha?" Kagome peered around the corner of the now deserted corridor. The school had emptied out in less than five minutes—traffic didn't last long on Fridays.

She frowned. She was sure she'd heard his voice… Shrugging in disappointment, she ducked into the dark photography room, figuring that she could at least develop a few rolls of film for class before Souta finished his test. She flipped on the light switch—

And froze.

"What are you—?"

The two boys that flanked either side of Inuyasha jumped. One leaped at Kagome and shoved her against the wall. She squeaked and struggled out of his grasp, running for the other side of the room. "What the hell?"

Her assaulter lunged for her again, but was intercepted by Inuyasha, who threw a punch at him, knocking the guy against the wall. "I didn't say you could hurt her."

"Wasn't gonna," the gang member muttered, rubbing his sore head.

"Good," said Inuyasha, giving him the Evil Look. His long dark locks swung as he swiveled his head to look at Kagome.

She couldn't hold back a flinch. This wasn't the Inuyasha she knew. This wasn't the silver-tongued rogue that could melt her into a pile of mush with a devastatingly handsome smile. This was a stranger. A stranger with hard eyes and a cigarette in his hand.

"Since when do you smoke?" she blurted.

He rolled his eyes heavenward and turned back to the two thugs. "Get outta here," he ordered. "I'm good."

"But now she—"

"I said go."

"If you get us in trouble, man…"

"She won't squeal, okay? I'll make sure she doesn't. Now get the hell outta here before I have to make you."

They shrugged and strolled out of the photo room, leaving only Kagome and Inuyasha behind.

Inuyasha just looked at her, twiddling the cigarette between his fingers.

Kagome stared back. She was going on a six-month crush now. And she'd thought she was close to the point of getting asked out—they were talking more, there were those special smiles, and they were running into each other more and more…

"You don't need that," she said, motioning towards the cigarette.

He flicked a glance down at it. "I don't, huh."

"No. You don't. You need your lungs for basketball and hockey. And not to mention actual day to day _breathing_?"

"I know."

"Cigarettes will kill you. Guaranteed included."

She didn't care if she sounded like a nagging wife. She really didn't care what he thought of her now. She wanted to know what was up with him smoking.

"No joke."

"So what are you doing them for?" she cried. "You don't need to! You have above a 3.5 GPA, you play two varsity sports—"

He threw the cigarette on the floor, crushing it beneath his foot. "It's to distract me from an addiction."

"What, more nicotine to ease the lack of?" she scoffed.

"No…" he said slowly, looking at her strangely. "It's not nicotine I'm addicted to. This is only my third time. Or would've been."

"Smoking is stupid."

He mumbled something she couldn't hear.

"What?"

"Nothing."

"No, what'd you say?"

"I said it's nothing."

"Inuyasha!" She grabbed his shoulders. "Tell me!"

He gave her a deep searching look and then wrapped his arms around her, tugging her into a tight embrace.

"Wh-what d'you think you're—"

"Do I scare you?" he said, resting his forehead on hers.

"I…" _Not until now. Not until I realized I don't really know who you are…_ "Not really."

"Not good," he scolded. "You should be scared of me. Very scared. I'm dangerous, Kagome, very dangerous."

"What do you mean?" _Why is he telling me this? Is he… is he trying to tell me he isn't interested? That there's no hope for us?_

He ducked his head and teased her with a rough kiss. Nothing like she'd expected her first kiss to be like. It was desperate, harsh… trying to prove something?

"Scared yet?" he said when he pulled back.

She pursed her lips. "Inuyasha, whatever you're trying to say, just spit it out. I promise I won't take it badly."

He ran a finger along her cheek, the contact making her shiver. "I'm nursing my addiction to you. Only you'd never fall for a thug like me. Nicotine is the best escape. Love hurts much, much worse than smoking."

She gulped, her heart having jumped in her throat. Love? What was he on about? He was eighteen to her seventeen; what did they know of love? Weren't they too young?

_But then again…since when did love have an age requirement?_

Kagome drew in a shaky breath. "Is that all?"

His face hardened. "Yeah, pretty much."

This time it was her turn to surprise him. She rose on tiptoe, pressing her lips to his in a sweet, simple kiss that earned her an approving look when she pulled back.

Kagome smiled. "If that's the problem… nurse _this_ addiction all you want."

-

-

-

A/N: I will alternate between writing Miroku/Sango and Inuyasha/Kagome. Maybe I'll throw in some Rin/Kohaku or Sesshoumaru/Kagura… hmm. We'll see. ;) Tell me what you think!


	3. Object Lesson

_Object Lesson_

"Sango—"

"Don't follow me."

"But—"

"Look, I think I have every right to walk away from you right now. You don't lead a girl on—constantly flirting with her—ask her out, and then the very next _week_ cheat on her."

"I wasn't _cheating_—"

"Then what do you call making out with another girl?"

"A lapse in willpower?"

"Yeah, okay. Don't expect me to stick around if these… lapses of brain functioning occur often."

"Sango…" He ran in front of her and forcibly blocked her path. The other university students walking on the busy sidewalk that wound through the campus, trying to make their way to class on time, moved past them without interest. "Wait a minute."

"Forget it." She scowled and moved to walk around him.

"Punch me," he said.

"Uh—what?"

"Punch me. I deserve it—_you_ deserve it." He pointed to his muscular chest. "Right here, punch me as hard as you can."

She eyed him suspiciously. "Do you know what you're asking for?"

Miroku smirked. "Try me. I doubt any punch of yours will hurt. No offense, sweetheart, but you're too gentle for that."

Sango drew back her arm and punched his chest as hard as she could. Well, almost. That stupid nagging voice in the back of her head—damned affection—didn't want her to hurt him.

Miroku looked surprised for a minute. "That wasn't that bad, actually…" The cocky grin reappeared. "But you've still got a long way to go."

She punched him again, this time a bit faster and harder.

"Good," he coached. "Stand a little farther back, though, so you can lunge forward when you punch. That'll give you more force. Inertia propels you forward."

"Like this?" She stepped back, and punched again.

"Yes, better. Do it again."

She did, this time throwing in an extra punch with the other hand directly after the first.

"Nice element of surprise," said Miroku. "Now kind of shift back and forth on your feet—like this—" he demonstrated, and Sango laughed.

"You look like one of those Eastern coal-walkers," she said. "Or the comic relief for a cartoon."

"That's me," he said, winking.

They laughed together.

"Hey Miroku," Sango said, still smiling.

"Hmm?" He slipped an arm around her waist. "What is it, honey?"

She threw her hardest punch yet at him, this time aiming in the high chest area. Unsuspecting, Miroku tumbled backwards, head over heels, landing in the rather prickly St. Augustine campus grass.

"A quick lesson for you," Sango said, smiling down at him in satisfied retribution, "a teacher should always pay heed to when the student begins to surpass him."

Miroku just blinked.

"Especially," Sango added, "when the student has a particular grudge."

Miroku stared at her for a moment longer… then threw his head back and laughed. It didn't take long for Sango's laughter to mix with his, and now the passing college students looked upon the scene with fondness, smiling at the young woman who was stooping down to help up the fallen man.

Few were surprised when he pulled her back down with him.

And even less were surprised when they didn't move from that position for another hour or two.


End file.
